New technology for industrial remote visual inspections
11/10/2016
Ashtead Technology has announced the addition of the latest Olympus technology to its rental fleet of industrial videoprobes. “The new IPLEX NX offers dramatic improvements to existing imaging technology and can help to locate defects that were previously invisible,” said Branch Manager Alan Hasson. “With a host of new features, this instrument improves the accuracy of inspections and the quality of reports, while enhancing the ease with which this work is undertaken.”Remote visual inspection (RVI) is an essential activity for checking the condition of engines, machines and structures to protect efficiency and safety. With a tiny camera on the end of a flexible cable, videoprobes provide the capability to inspect internal components and parts that would otherwise be difficult to access. In doing so, videoprobes save the costs and delays incurred by dismantling.
The IPLEX NX combines an industry-leading high-pixel CCD chip (digital image sensor), an ultra-bright laser diode light system and a unique ‘image noise reducing’ PulsarPic processor to automatically adjust light output and deliver the clearest images possible in changeable inspection conditions. As a result, users are able to study the subtlest defects in the darkest or most reflective places and over wide areas, producing clear, bright images.
The instrument’s new optical system and enhanced technology achieve a dramatic expansion in the inspection area, enabling flaw measurement from twice the distance, in an inspection area four times larger than conventional videoprobes allow for. With a wide-field stereo measurement capability, the IPLEX NX measures a range of defect characteristics, including distance, point-to-line, depth and area/lines. The instrument’s unique multi spot-ranging function enables real-time measurement of the distance from the scope tip to multiple points on the inspection surface. This provides surface shape information with no pause or break in the inspection.
Ease of use is enhanced by a detachable 8.4-inch screen, the largest in the IPLEX series, which means that images are 1.7 times larger than that of a conventional 6.5-inch monitor. The camera tip is also extremely flexible, offering articulation up/down and left/right up to 130°.
Summarising, Alan Hasson said: “The advanced capabilities of the new IPLEX NX will make the instrument popular in inspection applications within industries such as aerospace, oil & gas, power generation, renewable energy, processing and manufacturing. The ability to rent the new videoprobe also means that this advanced technology is now available to everyone without the capital cost.”
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